With the announcement that there will be new live action iteration of DC’s Supergirl, there has been some major speculation on what this new show will entail. With a character like Kara Zor-El, it will be tough to develop a show that will be palatable to the masses, without having her cousin Superman directly involved. That said what would it take to make an awesome show based on a heroine with 157 origin stories? Let’s see if we can figure it out in five steps or less.
Addressing the origin issue:
The first problem is Supergirl has 157 origin stories. Ok, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but 157 isn’t that far off. The first step to making a great show would be simplifying her origin. Leave out Kandor and radiation poisoning and all that other craziness (seriously, look it up)… Well on second thought it might be cool for her to be found in Gotham Bay by Batman, but we all know that isn’t an option. The writers need to keep it simple. Supergirl is from krypton. Her family left before the planet exploded and she was the only one to survive the trip. Boom. Short, sweet, and simple.
Don’t ignore her family ties:
The worst thing that can happen to this show is if they try to ignore Supergirl’s cousin Superman. We probably will never see Superman on the show but that doesn’t mean they should act as if he doesn’t exist in the same universe. It happens all the time in superhero TV shows. They can’t fall into that pitfall here. The reason Supergirl wears the “S” on her chest is to honor her cousin. She can talk about making him proud and following in his footsteps without him actually being on the show.
If they aren’t going to have him appear on the show (seriously, is Henry Cavill or Tom Welling really too busy to make a cameo here?) they can have him appear via news clippings or TV reports. Kara could be walking reading the headline Superman foils Lex Luthor’s plot to steal 40 cakes or something like that. Ignoring the fact that she is related to an icon like Superman will not only alienate comic fans, it will also limit the amount of comic based stories you could use.
Cameos, supporting cast and more Cameos:
As a fan, it’s hard not to geek out when you are looking Arrow and The Flash shows up. Or how about the Justice Society episode of Smallville? There is nothing better than a good old superhero team up. Also, how interesting would Smallville have been without Clark’s sidekick Chloe? For a somewhat underrated character like Supergirl, having a strong supporting case and awesome cameos could put this show over the top. This writer is crossing his fingers for Batgirl to show up.
She has to be Supergirl from the start:
Not to belabor the Smallville comparisons too much, but one of the worst things about the show was that it took eight plus seasons for Clark to actually become Superman. There is nothing wrong with taking your time and building up a character, but that was a bit much. Kara needs to be Supergirl from the start. You can even use flashbacks to show how she became who she is, but spending anything more than flashback or an episode for her to dawn her cape would be a total mistake. It's doubtful that anyone looking this show would be willing to wait that long for the payoff.
Give her things she can hit:
One of the biggest complaints about Superhero movies/TV shows is pitting heroes with infinite power up against villains that they should literally defeat in zero point zero seconds. It’s boring. Don’t take this writers word for it. Go look Superman Returns. Supergirl is almost as strong (or stronger depending on who is writing her) than Superman. She needs villains that she can slug it out with. Of course there will be your occasional bank robber, but she needs to fight heavy hitters like Brainiac, Cyborg Superman (his alter ego Hank Henshaw is rumored t be part of the series), or even Bizzaro. Supergirl doesn’t have much of a rouges gallery, but there is no reason they can’t borrow villains from other DC comic properties.
All that said the perfect foil for Supergirl might be her Earth-2 counterpart Power Girl. Power Girl’s origin is just as convoluted as Supergirl’s. Let’s not go into how they are technically the same person (it will make your head hurt), but she is stronger, smarter and faster than Supergirl. The Justice League cartoon introduced Power Girl as a mind controlled clone of Supergirl. Think of it this way: if Lex Luthor is involve or some other super smart baddie, they could use Supergirl’s DNA to create Power Girl as a countermeasure to that meddling do-gooder Supergirl. You are probably thinking, “but Power Girl is a hero!” Well not everyone starts off that way. An even better intro might be having Power Girl actually be an alternate reality version of Kara who thinks Kara is in fact that bad guy. Opening up the concept of infinite earths could be messy, but it will also give the writers endless possibilities of characters and stories they can use.
What do you think will make this show great? Let us know in the comments section below! We love hearing from you all.